U.S. troops surprised by militias' power

Groups' leaders, agendas appeal to Baghdad residents

Antonio Castaneda, The Associated Press

Published
10:00 pm PDT, Monday, September 18, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. soldiers trying to win back Baghdad's streets say they have been surprised by the power and popularity of Shiite militias, whose presence they view as a major obstacle to curbing violence in the city.

Some soldiers, interviewed during operations in recent days in eastern Baghdad, said they believe the militias outnumber and outgun Iraqi forces. That is troubling because Iraqi forces are supposed to maintain order once the Americans are gone.

Even more troubling, the soldiers suspect that militia leaders, most notably radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, enjoy greater support among the Shiite residents of the city than do Iraqi security forces.

"If the Iraqi police and Iraqi army had a guy like (al-Sadr) -- someone people believe in -- maybe they'd be a little stronger," said Capt. Dwayne Waits, 30, of Little Rock, Ark. "You see posters of him all over the place, but you don't see posters of the Iraqi police chief or an Iraqi army colonel."

More than 3,000 of the best-equipped U.S. troops from the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team were moved to Baghdad last month after Iraqi forces failed to stem Sunni-Shiite killings in the capital, renewing fears of civil war.

U.S. commanders hope that American troops will find and sweep away enough weapons and militiamen to allow Iraqi troops to regain control.

But violence continues.

Early today, the U.S. military announced that two more American soldiers were killed Sunday in Baghdad, one by a roadside bomb and the other by gunfire. Their identities were not immediately released..

In Monday's violence, two suicide car bombers attacked a police station in Ramadi, killing at least two police officers and wounding 26 people, the Interior Ministry and U.S. military said.

A suicide bomber also struck in Tal Afar, a city 260 miles northwest of Baghdad that has seen much insurgent activity in the past, killing at least 20 people and wounding 17. Bombings and shootings in and around Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killed 12 people.

At least six more people died in other incidents around Iraq, and authorities found at least five bodies, including two women, that probably were victims of the sectarian reprisal killings being waged between Shiite and Sunni Arabs.

In the first days of the offensive, the 172nd Strykers moved through some Sunni and religiously mixed neighborhoods west of the Tigris River, which flows through Baghdad.

Now they are focusing on the Shiite neighborhoods of eastern Baghdad such as Shaab and Ur, where support for al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia is strong.

When U.S. troops first entered Shaab and Ur, children threw rocks at them -- sometimes in view of Iraqi forces. The soldiers found posters of al-Sadr prominently displayed, along with flowing banners warning "Death to the Infidels."

U.S. officials consider the Mahdi Army and other armed groups a threat to the authority of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government of national unity.

But many Shiites believe the militias are their best protection against Sunni insurgents and religious zealots -- who have killed thousands of Shiites since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

"Everyone's drawn to militias, which give immediate results, which is what they want," said Staff Sgt. Justin Nelson, 26, of Stockton, Calif. "It goes back to popular support for the militias."

The militias also are linked to politicians -- both Sunnis and Shiites. That requires the Americans to move carefully.

Waits said he feared the U.S. and Iraqis don't have enough forces to control Baghdad, a city of about 6 million people.

"We have a brigade here, but Baghdad is a big place," Waits said. "Iraqi security forces are supposed to take over after we leave, but they're not always that good."